Definition

1. Adjective:

   • Fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless: Describing a situation that is extremely dangerous and offers little or no hope of a positive outcome.
   • Showing extreme urgency or intensity because of great need or desire: Describing a feeling or action driven by an overwhelming and urgent need.
   • Showing extreme courage undertaken in desperation as a last resort: Describing actions that are courageous because they are done out of desperation when all else has failed.
   • Dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair: Describing a person or their behavior that is extremely reckless, often due to a feeling of hopelessness.
   • Arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope: Describing something that is caused by or shows complete hopelessness.

2. Noun:

   • A person who is frightened and in need of help: Referring to an individual who is in a state of despair and urgently requires assistance.

Examples of Usage

• Adjective:

  • The patient was in a desperate condition. (The patient's state was extremely serious and nearly hopeless.)
  • She felt a desperate need to find her lost child. (She felt an intensely urgent need to locate her child.)
  • They made a desperate attempt to save the company. (They made a final, courageous effort to rescue the company, knowing it might fail.)
  • The desperate criminal took hostages. (The criminal, acting out of despair, took hostages.)
  • He let out a desperate cry for help. (He shouted a cry that came from complete hopelessness.)

• Noun:

  • Charities aim to help the desperate. (Charities aim to assist people who are in despair and need.)

Advanced Usage

• "to be desperate for something": to want or need something very much and urgently.

  • The refugees were desperate for food and water. (The refugees had an urgent, overwhelming need for food and water.)

• "a desperate measure": an extreme action taken when all other options have failed.

  • Selling the family heirloom was a desperate measure to pay the bills. (Selling the valuable family item was an extreme action taken due to a hopeless situation.)

Variants and Related Words

• Desperately (adverb): in a desperate manner.

  • He searched desperately for the missing key. (He searched with extreme urgency and intensity.)

• Desperation (noun): a state of despair, typically one that results in rash or extreme behavior.

  • In a moment of desperation, he called his old rival for help. (Acting from a state of hopelessness, he contacted his rival.)

Synonyms

• Hopeless: having no expectation of good or success.
• Dire: extremely serious or urgent.
• Reckless: without thinking or caring about the consequences of an action.

Related Phrases (Phrasal Verbs)

• Despair of: to lose all hope about someone or something. (Note: This is a verb phrase using "despair," a related noun, not a phrasal verb with "desperate").
  • She began to despair of ever finding a solution. (She started to lose all hope of finding a solution.)

Related Idioms

• At one's wits' end: so worried or desperate that you do not know what to do next. (This idiom conveys a similar feeling of desperation).
  • After hours of troubleshooting, the engineer was at his wits' end. (The engineer was completely desperate and did not know what else to try.)

Adjective

1. fraught with extreme danger; nearly hopeless
   • a desperate illness
   • on all fronts the Allies were in a desperate situation due to lack of materiel- G.C.Marshall
   • a dire emergency
2. showing extreme urgency or intensity especially because of great need or desire
   • felt a desperate urge to confess
   • a desperate need for recognition
3. showing extreme courage; especially of actions courageously undertaken in desperation as a last resort
   • made a last desperate attempt to reach the climber
   • the desperate gallantry of our naval task forces marked the turning point in the Pacific war- G.C.Marshall
   • they took heroic measures to save his life
4. (of persons) dangerously reckless or violent as from urgency or despair
   • a desperate criminal
   • taken hostage of desperate men
5. desperately determined
   • do-or-die revolutionaries
   • a do-or-die conflict
6. arising from or marked by despair or loss of hope
   • a despairing view of the world situation
   • the last despairing plea of the condemned criminal
   • a desperate cry for help
   • helpless and desperate--as if at the end of his tether
   • her desperate screams

Noun

1. a person who is frightened and in need of help
   • they prey on the hopes of the desperate